1. Technical Field
One or more embodiments relate generally to processing hides. More specifically, one or more embodiments relate to systems and methods for customizing hides.
2. Background and Relevant Art
In general, tanning is the process of transforming raw animal hides into leather hides. Typically, tanning is performed by tanning facilities that receive raw animal hides from slaughterhouses or other facilities that skin animals. Upon receiving raw animal hides, tanning facilities usually subject hides to various tanning processes. For example, many tanning facilities use a mechanical and chemical tanning process, such as chrome tanning or vegetable tanning, to convert raw animal hides into leather hides. Once transformed into leather hides, tanning facilities may subject leather hides to additional processing before providing the leather hides to customers that generate finished leather products. However, while conventional tanning processes are useful in making leather hides, such processes suffer from several disadvantages.
One disadvantage is that conventional tanning processes often lack the ability to customize leather hides. More specifically, conventional tanning processes do not typically involve customizing leather hides in accordance with particular customer specifications (e.g., as indicated by a customer order). On the contrary, conventional tanning processes usually involve wringing, folding, stacking, and packaging leather hides in the same manner and without regard to specific customer needs or requirements. Furthermore, oftentimes conventional tanning processes produce leather hides that customers cannot readily use to generate finished leather products (e.g., the leather hides require additional processing prior to use in making finished leather products). As a result, customers (i.e. purchasers of leather hides) typically perform the customization of leather hides on their own, which is inconvenient and can often entail significant investments of customers' time, money, and other resources. Consequently, conventional tanning processes usually lead to reduced profits and diminished customer satisfaction as a result of failing to provide added value in the form of leather hides that are customized for immediate use by a particular customer.
Another disadvantage is that conventional tanning processes typically lack the ability to provide one or more packages of leather hides that exactly match the number of leather hides requested by a customer. In particular, since conventional tanning processes usually involve packaging a standard number of leather hides per package, customers are often limited to purchasing leather hides on a per package basis. Correspondingly, conventional tanning processes usually satisfy each customer order with one or more packages of leather hides that may not contain the exact number of leather hides needed by each customer. Consequently, conventional tanning processes frequently lead to unnecessary waste by requiring customers to purchase more leather hides than are needed (e.g., when a customer only wants 30 leather hides, but a conventional tanning facility only sells 60 leather hides per package). Additionally, conventional tanning processes are usually incapable of using a single package of leather hides to satisfy multiple customer orders. Accordingly, conventional tanning processes often experience reduced efficiency and limited responsiveness to customer orders as a result of an inability to produce packages of leather hides that exactly match customer orders.
Yet another disadvantage is that conventional tanning processes are unable to meet particular customer specifications because such processes typically cannot trace leather hides throughout a tanning facility. More specifically, conventional tanning processes often fail to record information related to customizing leather hides in accordance with particular customer specifications. For example, conventional tanning processes lack the ability to capture process information for a particular leather hide or package of leather hides (e.g., the identification of particular devices used in the tanning, sorting, customizing, or packaging processes). Moreover, most conventional tanning processes cannot identify and track individual leather hides or packages of leather hides, let alone associate process information with individual leather hides or packages of leather hides. Thus, by failing to record and associate information that provides traceability within a tanning facility, conventional tanning processes are less able to effectively provide leather hides specifically tailored to particular customer specifications.
Accordingly, there are a number of considerations to be made in processing and customizing hides.